[Typo3-dev] clustering vs. loadbalancing vs. blades

[Michael Scharkow]

Elmar Hinz wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> for a better understand of the descussion about clustering a need some 
> advice.
> 
> Is there a difference between clustering, loadbalancing und ibm blade 
> technologies?

Yep.

> If so what are the differences?

Okay, a simple answer: See wikipedia for the keywords...

Clustering means using multiple machines for identical tasks, preferably 
with an identical environment, connected through some network controlled 
by some daemon. One purpose of clustering is load-balancing, another is 
failover.

Loadbalancing means spreading requests coming in to one server to 
multiple servers, either randomly or depending on the load of the 
individual nodes.

As for IBM blades, I have no idea about what's special with them. The 
clue in blades is simply to stack as many servers into one rack, packed 
in vertical blades which are basically complete mainboards with RAM and 
CPU and some connection to storage devices.

> Which one do you think best for TYPO3?

Clustering is certainly useful in situations where you don't get by with 
one webserver and one db server. Native clustering like with MySQL is a 
good solution because it's transparent to TYPO3.

Cheers,
Michael